David J. Johns has been appointed as the executive director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans. As executive director Johns will be asked to identify evidence-based best practices to improve African American student achievement from cradle to career. The goal of the initiative is to work with federal, state, and local agencies as well as community groups to produce a more effective continuum of education programs for African American students.

Johns has been serving as a senior education policy advisor to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. He is a former elementary school teacher in New York City.

Johns is a graduate of Columbia University where he triple majored in English, creative writing, and African American studies. He earned a master’s degree in sociology and education policy at Teachers College of Columbia University.

Comments (10)

My wife and I live near Rochester, N.Y. where the scholastic performance is horrible, despite years of initiatives and money being thrown at the problem. My observation is nothing is going to help without the involvement of the parent(s). Nothing Mr. Johns tries to do will help when the students aren’t even in school! Just check the graduation rates in the Rochester School District! If the family does not value an education enough to make sure their children even go to school, how can we expect the students to value that education.

Obama’s RTTT K-12 policy is destructive, divisive, and toxic. Obama’s education policy is abysmal and it has deleterious effects on Black and Brown students around the country. Appointing Johns (or anyone, for that matter) to reinforce a toxic education policy is ONLY bound to make things worse.

This is not progress.

To quote Malcolm X: “You don’t stick a knife in a man’s back nine inches and then pull it out six inches and say you’re making progress.”

Brother Zimboni,
I agree wholeheartedly with you! All this “brother” Johns is going to do or is doing, is stating and restating the problem as most politicians or those who “tout” for politicians do! As a mature African-American male doctoral candidate-Ed.D. Executive Leadership, I’m taking my “education” and becoming more creative and offering Blacks some real viable alternatives to education. Brother you’ve captured the essence of this deceptive practice very well!
Yours in the struggle,

Zomboni, the president can be a conduit for gathering information on “best practices” and disseminating it. Why fault him for this? He can also use his bully pulpit to encourage better; and he has, on numerous occasions. But an “Almighty Obama” doesn’t exist. It is WE THE PEOPLE who must do the heavy lifting. Local communities and the states must do the job. Expecting presidents to do it is a waste of time; it ain’t gonna happen. Just what is it you want them to do that you can’t? Inquiring minds want to know, like yesterday! Let’s get out of our “Twilight Zones” and do what needs to be done…

I’m Kevin Dorival, mentor, author, and host of the Black On Black Crime Solutions Panel. I like what Mr. John is doing because at least its towards the right direction. I would love to get more support in what I’m currently doing because we need more support. I know this is an old article but the problem is prevalent in today’s society. Please, reach out to me.

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By the time of the Iowa caucuses on February 3, 2020 how many Democratic candidates do you think will still be in the field?